It is not every day one comes face to face with great people. My meeting with five exceptional ladies at Sheraton on 16th June 2015 is one such incident. Most of the time you will meet many ‘experts’, ‘professionals’, ‘Dr’s’, CEO’s or Managers who think too highly of themselves and their capabilities. Yet they cannot even make a short presentation or tell a short story of their life.
I have been mentoring (one-one high-level personal development support services) and coaching (process skills training and expert guide to grow executives to excel on the job) executives for over two years now. Most people call me based on a client’s recommendation.
Not with these ladies.
They invited me for a chat to assess my potential to help them. So, at 5:30 pm sharp, I drove to Sheraton, Kampala to meet these women leaders. And instantly, I was put on a spot light:
Qn from Women Leader 1: How would you introduce yourself to a stranger for maximum impact?
Mustapha Mugisa: You need a rehearsed 30– seconds’ commercial of yourself. When I am asked to introduce myself, I say “I am called Mustapha Mugisa. I help people like you, improve your condition. Are you too good to be great?”
I went ahead to explain, that you need an introduction that leaves the other person wanting to hear more from you. Most people’s introductions are plain. “I am James, I am an accountant.”
Now, there is nothing so special that will separate James from another John or Peter who is also accountant.
Most of the time, I have people call me back and say, Hey, how do you improve people’s condition. To which I explain, “Working together, I help you discover yourself. What are your current achievements and challenges? We explore the opportunities you could be missing? We analyze whether you are operating at your full potential. To be honest, everyone can be improved as most people use just 30-55% of their potential. We then develop a clear personal strategy and specific action plan or interventions to help you start getting closer to your dream. Thereafter, I become your accountability partner to ensure the agreed milestones are achieved.
For example, we may agree that to get a salary increment at your workplace, you must represent or accompany your boss to at least two board meetings in a year. Now we explore possibilities available considering your current position and skills to attain this. If it is impossible, we review and develop another possibility until we identify an idea that can help you get noticed at the board or top level.
The fact that everything you achieve are a result of deliberate actions, my mentorship and coaching always works.
To be continued.
